Monday, June 24, 2013

The Weather: It was cloudy with the wind switching directions a few times, and it even got calm a time or two or maybe it was just the shoreline we were fishing. I don't think it sprinkled, but at one point I put my rain gear on thinking it was going to rain pretty good. It stayed near 70 degrees the whole day and that was the water temp as well.

The Tournament:
We blasted off from the Upper Mission Access as the 12th boat out of 17 at around a quarter to 7AM. We drove West. Right away I got a 13" bass on a reed edge on a bluegill Pure Poison with grn. pumpkin Havoc Craw Fatty Trailer. A couple of casts later I got hung up in the reeds and I broke off for some reason. We fished the reeds for a couple more minutes, then went to either a sunken hump or point, I'm not sure which it is. I fished the area before back at the Challenge Cup we had back in 2009. I think I missed one bite and that was it. Nate my boater informed me at one point fish were breaking, but I never saw or heard it. It was windy.

Next we headed to a weedline off of some reeds West of the Public Access on the Upper Mission. There I got a pike on the Poison and 14.95" bass on the Stanley Phantom. Getting this fish wasted a lot of my time because I never had another fish hit it the rest of the day. Eventually we headed to a weedline on the South shore off of some reeds. Right away I got 30" or so inch pike on the Pure Poison. Nate got 2 good bass on a jig, and I got my 14" on a Hack Attack Jig with breen Powerbait Chigger Craw trailer. We moved into the reeds and Nate got another good fish. We went back out and worked the area Nate got the 1st couple without any luck. We then had a long lull trying along the SE end of the lake. Nate got one fish I think.

Next we went to a spot that I suggested on the North end of the Lake. There we ran into Guy and Jim Smith. Nate got his limit.

We next headed to Lower Mission. I got 13" and a 12" squeaker on a white Horny Toad. Nate pulled a few fish off some docks, so next we headed to a magic dock, where Nate pulled off about 6 or 7 fish. He offered me the knock off senko he was throwing and I accepted it. I don't think the problem was my fluke, but my lousy casting. I just couldn't get the lure in the right places. I missed a few bites with the senko, but I finally hooked up with another 12" squeaker. We worked some more docks and some shoreline cover with me missing several bites.

Next we headed back to the Upper Lake and the spot Nate got his first 3 fish. I culled one of the 12"'s with a 12.75" on a Grass Pig Jr. and got my big bass of the day 15.25" (1/14) off of a dock with the Hack Attack jig.

We tried a couple more spots on the Upper Lake. Nate getting a cull at that island/ point thing. I caught a 12.5" bass that didn't help on a craw tube and got bit off. Next we headed into the Lower Lake.

We fished a reed bed into the shoreline cover where I missed a couple on the Horny Toad. Next we went to a sand break and got nothing there. With 20 minutes left Nate asked my docks or caine. I chose the caine. That worked out for Nate cause he got one last good cull. I missed yet another hit on the Horny Toad and then we were done.

Results:My six fish weighed 8lbs 11ozs which put me in 32nd out of 33 guys. Nate weighed 16lbs even and won the tournament by 2ozs!!! Great job Nate!

There were only 4 bags under 10lbs and 14lb bags went down to 16th Place. I was only saved from last place because Herman only caught 2 fish.

My Thoughts:
I just had a bad day on the water, it happens. This is my second worse performance as a Snatcher; Second only to the beat down I took at Cedar Lake in the 1st tournament of the year. At least I got a limit in this one.

I don't really know why the day went so bad. I didn't get tired or lose focus. My dock skipping and Horny Toad skills both were both super rusty. I have decided to demote the rod I've been using for skipping docks. It just doesn't have enough back bone.

One thing other than on the docks were Nate had first crack at them, we never really got into the fish. We didn't get very many bites on the weedlines for as much as we fished the them. Sounded like a lot of people got their fish up shallow on the lower lake. We spent most of the day in the Upper Lake and on the weedlines.

If I had it to do all over again. I would have thrown the Hack Attack Jig more.

Mission Lakes seem to have my number, this is 3 poor showings in the 3 times I've fished it.

Sunday, June 09, 2013

She went 4/11 and was caught under a tree on Platte Lake on a jig I think. He must be a new guy in the club, as that they don't have his full name on their website yet. His winning bag went 15/1.

Second Place went to Emmet Smith at 14lbs and 3rd Place went to Emmet's partner Marty, who also must be new to the club this year as his full name doesn't appear on the website either; His bag was 12/14. It sounded like all the winners fish came from Platte Lake.

I think there was just one other fish over 4lbs. They had 8 boats fishing

Saturday, June 08, 2013

The Weather:
The weather forecast was for it to be raining from the get go and winds out of the NW gusting upwards of 20mph. Fortunately the rain held off and the wind stayed fairly mild as well out of E NE for the first couple of hours. It then rained for about an hour or so and the wind was really blowing by the end of the day.

The Tournament:
We were first boat out at around quarter to 7AM. We would have got out sooner but a certain boat put there plug in the wrong hole. We went right to our starting spot and my boater Owen had his big bass of the day in the first five minutes. I decided the conditions might be right for topwater so I had put on my Stanley Phantom.

Right after Owen got his fish in the boat. I had my first keeper on, a solid 15.25" fish that I would hold onto all day. I caught the next 3 fish as well landing a 14.5", 16", 14.75". By this point we started getting crowed by a couple of different boats; All of them catching fish as well. Owen landed a few to catch up with me. I got a 15.75" and 13.50". We were now in a calm area and I got my big fish of the day a 17.5" , 3lb 1oz bass also on the Phantom. Unfortunately we didn't really stay in that area to work it over and headed back over the water we had just come from. The wind had come up a little bit more at this point and when we got back into the wind the topwater bite seemed to have died.

Owen caught one off a dock so we did that for bit, but that was totally unproductive. It started to rain so we headed to our secondary area. I think I landed one that didn't help then I got a 16 incher getting both fish on black blue Strike King Pure Poison with black blue Berkley Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as the trailer.

This is what I would get the rest of my fish on for the day. Other than that one fish that area was a bust.

We then went to an old reed bed that was in the wind. I had a good feeling fish on right away but it came off half way to the boat. That was it for that area, so we went back to our starting spot which was quite crowded at this point. We started catching fish almost immediately, so we worked the area for the rest of the day. However we did go up into the calm area that was still calm and I culled a couple of times with a 15.25" and a 16.5" and I got several that didn't help. Owen culled a couple of times as well. I did try throwing the Phantom some scaring Chuck Steinbauer in the process, but didn't get any hits on it.

Results:My 6 fish weighed in a 14lbs 7ozs which put me in a tie for 5th place, which I won on the big bass tie breaker. I got lucky because the other guy had a dead fish penalty. Owen had 13/7 and came in 10th. We broke record for the best first club tournament of the year in terms of total weight caught. Our average bag was 12.65lbs. Chuck Steinbauer won with 16/15 beating Ed Ott by an ounce.

Analysis:
I'm happy with how things went for the most part. I had fun, it was a good day with the topwater to start. It's pretty clear we wasted time fishing those docks, but one fish sent us off on that mission, so what are you gonna do?

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About Me

I was born a fisherman on 1/3/1970. My fondest early memories are of waking up before day break to go fishing for Largemouth Bass with my Dad on Sylvia/Twin Lake in Wright County MN. Fishing has always been in my blood and the older I got the more fishing and bass fishing has become a passion.
I am blessed to currently live on a lake in Central Minnesota where the weeds grow thick and the Lgmth Bass grow big (well, big for MN anyway). There are few things in life like a big ole toad smacking a weedless frog through the wild rice, reeds, pads, or other slop. My favorite techniques are slopping weedless frogs, Zoom Super Flukes, & Topwater esp. for Smallies; I am also starting to really get into pitching.
I do fish for more than bass as this weblog will show. I love catching Pike, Salmon, Trout, and Crappie which are my other favorite freshwater species. Ohh and I can't forget Dogfish as that I am the 2004 & 2006 Minnesota Bowfin Grand Champion.
Blogging since 2004.
See yah on da lake!